New London Police started investigations allegations that Bruno was trying to extort sexual acts in lieu of cash for properties he had leased to tenants, police said. The allegations also included possible solicitation of sexual acts from children, police said.

As detectives investigated, Bruno solicited a person he thought was a 13-year-old girl online and arranged to pay her money and meet up with her in New London for sexual acts, police said.

When he arrived at the location they set as the meeting place on Thursday, police took him into custody and brought him to the New London Police Department, where he was charged with one count of criminal attempt at trafficking in persons, one count of second-degree criminal attempted sexual assault, two counts of risk and impairing the morals of a minor and two counts of enticement of a minor.

He was able to post a $150,000 bond and is due at New London Superior Court on May 19.

Police also searched Bruno’s home and said they seized evidence to support the allegations. The Connecticut State Police Computer Crimes Unit is investigating.

NBC Connecticut went to Bruno's home and knocked on the door, but no one answered. Bruno Plumbing is registered to the address and NBC Connecticut called the phone number listed for the company, but no one answered. It’s not clear if Bruno has an attorney.

Police continue to investigate and more charges are expected, according to police.

Anyone with information about this case should call State Police Detective Samantha McCord at 203-427-4062.

When nine pounds of an ultra-powerful painkiller called W-18 was seized by Canadian authorities last month, an Edmonton doctor tweeted it was "enough to kill every man, woman and child in Alberta about 45 times over."

Now, police departments in the Philadelphia region are on high alert for the drug after the Drug Enforcement Administration told them W-18 may have entered into the area’s heroin market.

The chemical, which can be mixed with heroin, has been described as "10,000 times stronger than morphine." Because of that potency, a tiny dose would be fatal. W-18 is likely manufactured in underground Chinese laboratories, the Drug Enforcement Administration is telling local police departments, and the drug remains unregulated.

Narcotics officers in Philadelphia and surrounding suburbs like Bensalem and Camden, New Jersey, said in interviews this week they are well aware of W-18, but detectives haven't found any hard evidence of its existence in the local black market yet.

"The past few months, we've been aware of it," said Philadelphia police narcotics Chief Daniel MacDonald. "We haven’t actually come across it in and of itself. We’ve heard of people blending it with heroin to bolster it. The police lab is aware of it."

Still, MacDonald said, the Philadelphia police department's lab has yet to determine with certainty that W-18 has hit the streets. There is some speculation among the law enforcement community that W-18 may be undetectable to current standard opioid testing.

The drug itself has been around since the early 1980s. Its patent dates to 1984, according to a Forbes story on the drug last week. It was among 35 chemicals patented by pharmaceutical chemists that appeared to be painkillers in tests on mice. It's name is derived from the graduate student who created it and its position as the 18th chemical in the list of 35 patented at the time.

Bensalem police Director Fred Harran said his detectives also have been on the lookout for W-18 since the beginning of the year after warnings from the DEA.

"Heroin and fentanyl are still the biggest problems when it comes to overdoses at this point," Harran said. "It's very frustrating. Look, we know how to go tackle this problem better. We need to regulate prescription drugs harder. Our wiretap laws have not caught up with the technology out there. There are more overdoses in this country than deaths related to al-Qaida. I'm not saying the fight against terrorism isn't worth fighting. But this [opiod addiction] is a huge problem."

The increased potency — and deadliness — of drugs like fentanyl and W-18 doesn't deter users, police and health officials said. The opposite usually occurs.

"There's some allure to it because it's super strong," MacDonald said.

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Whether it's present in the local market or not, the region is already dealing with an overwhelming opioid epidemic, according to Dr. Brian Work, a physician at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center who also works at Prevention Point in Kensington.

"People are dying from heroin in record numbers and fentanyl in large numbers," Work said. "It's hard worrying about the next thing down the pipe."

One detectives in Darby Township said the DEA's warning has been heeded, but he's hoping W-18 never becomes reality.

"We've heard it's some real bad stuff," Detective Cory Cooper said. "I could go a very long time without seeing it, and be very happy."

Photo Credit: NBC 10 This story uses functionality that may not work in our app. Click here to open the story in your web browser.

Philadelphia narcotics Chief Dan McDonald talking with an officer in the Badlands section of North Philadelphia in February 2016.

A teenager was shot in the stomach outside a liquor store in Wallingford on Thursday night and his friend sought out medical help through an internet search, but they were turned away because the facility offers specialty care for people with long-term and chronic conditions.

The victim, a 19-year-old Milford man called 911 at 8:56 p.m. on Thursday from the parking lot of 57 Hall Road, Cook Hill Elementary School and police responded to find him with a gunshot wound to his abdomen. The victim was then transported to Yale-New Haven Hospital. His injuries are not life-threatening.

After the shooting, the victim’s companion did an internet search for the nearest hospital and drove him to Gaylord Hospital, believing he could get treatment there, but the specialty care hospital turned them away.

Presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump will have his own wall to face in the presidential election: the "Blue Wall," according to NBC News.

The election is decided by a handful of key states that sit on the political fence between either party. The "Blue Wall" describes the eighteen states and the District of Columbia that have voted for a Democratic candidate since 1992, accounting for 242 electoral votes, only 28 votes shy of the 270 they needed to win. That gives Democrats plenty of room for error.

Republicans, on the other hand, have consistently won only 13 states over that same period, for a total of 102 electoral votes. Trump needs to win both Florida and Ohio, or he needs flip long-held Democratic states like Pennsylvania.

A double-amputee Syrian refugee was denied entry into the United States on Tuesday after landing at LAX and being forced to return to Europe, according to the Council of American-Islamic Relations, who called for his release.

According to CAIR, Morhaf Alkordi, who lost both his legs in 2013, had come to LA for medical treatment after his family reached an agreement with the Hanger Clinic in Downey to treat Alkordi for free.

"He arrived in the United States filled with hope and excitement. Less than 24 hours after his arrival, he was shipped back to Berlin as if he were damaged goods," said Alkordi's uncle, Malek Taweil, in a press release distributed by CAIR.

"Such treatment is unacceptable and not befitting the image and values of our country, especially against a victim of war who has already endured so much pain and suffering," Taweil added.

Alkordi's treatment, which had an estimated cost of anywhere from $24,000 to $90,000, would give him a chance to walk again. He was planning to return to Germany after the treatment, where his wife and daughter live.

"He's lost the ability to pursue his personal goals and dreams and this was that opportunity," said Alkordi's aunt, Marianne Taweil.

The State Department granted Alkordi a B-2 Visa, which was supposed to give him six months to get treated. He was then denied entry by Customs and Border patrol, which cited the Privacy Act when declining to comment on the case.

Alkordi's attorney, Farida Chehata, said authorities cited that he did not want to return to Syria, and that he was unemployed, as reasons for sending him back to Europe.

Chehata and Alkordi's family are now hoping the Department of Homeland Security cooperates with them in reviewing paperwork. Chehata is characterizing their case now as "a last ditch effort," as they attempt to get a humanitarian parole.

"For anybody who is a refugee from a war torn country, it's going to be difficult for him to be able to receive another B-2 visa after he was denied entry and returned back to Germany," Chehata said.

Photo Credit: CAIR/Alkordi Family

Morhaf Alkordi, who lost both his legs in 2013, came to LA for medical treatment after his family had reached an agreement with the Hanger Clinic in Downey.

The suspect in Thursday's shooting — and possibly in the mall shooting Friday — was identified as 62-year-old Eulalio Tordil, of Adelphi, an employee of the Federal Protective Service. He is 5-foot-5 and weighs 165 pounds, Prince George's County police said.

Tordil was last seen driving a silver 2015 Hyundai/Elantra with the Pennsylvania license plate JZA0123, according to police.

A source told News4 the description of the shooter at the mall matches the description of Tordil. Police believe Tordil is armed and dangerous.

Anyone who sees anything suspicious is asked to call 911.

Three people were shot outside Westfield Montgomery mall in Bethesda, Maryland, by a shooter police believe was a stranger to the victims, Montgomery County Police say.

Separately, police responded to a fatal shooting outside the Giant grocery store on the 13000 block of Connecticut Avenue in Aspen Hill, Maryland, about 8 miles northeast of the mall. A woman was shot and killed, police say.

The National Institutes of Health main campus is on "heightened alert," a spokesman said. Leased NIH facilities in the Bethesda and Rockville area are on lockdown.

Investigators are examining whether the two shootings Friday have any connection to a fatal shooting Thursday afternoon in a parking lot of a high school in Beltsville, Maryland, the Montgomery County police chief said.

The three people shot at the Westfield Montgomery Mall, two men and one woman, were shot in a parking lot and all initially were in critical condition, police said. They were rushed to Suburban Hospital, a representative said.

One victim, a man, later died. Another man is in critical condition, and a woman has non-life-threatening injuries, Starks said in an update. The hospital is on lockdown, the representative said.

Police say preliminary information indicates the shooter fired at one victim and then two people went to the victim's aid. The shooter then fired at those two people, police say, according to initial information.

"We have no reason to believe the victims knew the suspect," Montgomery County Assistant Chief Darryl McSwain said. "But we are certainly looking at all angles."

A woman was walking towards Macy's when a man approached her and asked where she was going, one witness told News4's Chris Gordon. When the woman didn't answer, the suspect reached into his car, pulled out a gun and started shooting. The woman was shot in the shoulder, and two men who were not involved in the initial confrontation also were wounded, the witness said.

The mall on Democracy Boulevard off I-270 was not locked down, a witness said. A man who answered the phone in the mall's management office said he could not confirm whether the mall ever was locked down Friday.

Stay with News4 for more details on this developing story.

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A shooting was reported at the Westfield Montgomery Mall in Bethesda, Maryland, on May 6, 2016, according to police.

“They are great pets. They are like big dogs. So we are looking for homes that appreciate the fact that they are a rescue animal, They come from a sordid past and we just want good, kind, loving people to take our donkeys home,” Mark Meyers, the executive director of Peaceful Valley Donkey Rescue, said.

In Texas, you will see donkeys out with sheep, goats and cows to keep predators at bay. They also bond with horses and people and make great companions.

A companion is exactly what Sue Spiewakowski, of Ashford, was looking for when she went to the farm with her daughter Alexia.

“We had two horses, one of them just passed away about a month ago. We were looking for a companion,” Spiewakowski said. “It seemed like a perfect fit that a donkey is a very good companion for a horse, so we are excited.”

Her daughter Alexia named their new donkey Lucy.

“I am really excited,” Alexia said.

Before placing the donkeys up for adoption (http://www.donkeyrescue.org/adoption_policy) PVDR makes sure they are friendly and will pick up their feet for trimming.

The Foster Hill Farm and Garden on Stafford Street in Stafford Springs will be the organization’s new satellite location in the northeast. The next closest location is in Virginia.

“We bring the donkeys up and they adopt them out under our policies. Then they can keep an eye on the homes and if there is a problem, they can come back here and get re-adopted,” Meyers said.

Some technicians at the animal hospital decided to fashion a small wheelchair for the kitten using a couple connecting Legos. They may have been inspired by canine carts, made for dogs that are paralyzed or need assistance walking.

Video posted to the clinic's Facebook page shows the kitten trying the cart on for the first time and immediately taking off.

"She's motoring around!" a worker is heard saying in the background.

"'Look at me go!' She's like, 'I don't care, I'm gonna keep going.'"

The kitten, which turned to be male, had been "kind of just laying in its cage" after it was brought in, but as soon as it was outfitted with the wheelchair, "he totally took off," Horowitz told NBC 4 New York.

Horowitz says it's not clear why the cat was paralyzed, but he does seem to respond to squeezes on some parts of the legs, which is a good sign.

The goal for the kitten now is to help him walk again with physical therapy. The wheelchair could act as a stepping stone for therapy because "you don't want the muscles in the back legs to atrophy," said Horowitz. "So we basically let him run around with the cart."

He's hoping the kitty will be able to walk within a few weeks. The kitten will be put up for adoption as soon as Horowitz determines it's OK.

Two men are accused of hitting police detective and choking two police dogs in Milford on Thursday night.

Detectives from the Milford Police Department’s Narcotics and Vice Unit noticed two suspicious men in a vehicle at the Howard Johnson’s on Thursday, so they went to investigate, but the men became combative, police said.

Police said the suspects y also had crack cocaine and drug paraphernalia.

Harrison and Rowbotham were charged with possession of narcotics, conspiracy possession of narcotics, possession of narcotics with intent to sell, conspiracy possession of narcotics with intent to sell